Petzold, Jochen

No matter if you study "Englisch" to become a teacher at a German school, or if you do British Studies as part of our BA programme, once you graduate people will exepct you to 'know things' about "England" or "Great Britain" (often used as an umbrella term to mean all kinds of things), and to know 'how things are done' there. And even if you don't want to conform to other people's expectations of you: if you want to 'do' British Studies, you will need to know certain theoretical concepts but also structures and institutions that shaped and still shape British society.

In this lecture, we will look at various aspects of the society and culture(s) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (and, to a much lesser extent, of the Republic of Ireland). We will explore a broad range of topics, and look at the historical processes that shaped them. Starting from a brief discussion of what is meant by 'society' and 'culture', we will look, for example, at the geographical area at the centre of our attention; at the political system in the UK; at the role of the monarchy; at the role of 'race' and 'class'; at the education sector; at the welfare state; or at some aspects of 'popular culture' like national sports. Hence, the lecture is supposed to give you a sense of what historical processes formed and what shapes UK culture(s) and society today -- providing you with contexts to studying British literature and culture in your various study programmes.

From 1948 to the 1990s, the South African government implemented a
policy of "Apartheid" (separateness), segregating the supposed "races"
and discriminating non-white South Africans. In this seminar, we will
read a selection of texts that scrutinize South African society under
apartheid, examining the consequences of racism and violence on
individuals and the community at large. We will start our exploration
with André Brink's Looking on Darkness (1973), the first novel
written in Afrikaans to be banned in South Africa (and consequently
translated into English by the author so that it could be published and
read abroad), but the main focus will lie on the 1980s, when many
critics saw South Africa heading towards all-out civil war. 

According to the so-called Tudor Myth, Richard II was a bad king, but
his deposition led to decades of instability and bloodshed -- the period
known as the "War of the Roses". This calamity, according to the myht,
reached its low-point in the tyrant Richard III, who was duely defeated
by Henry Tudor in the Battle of Bosworth. After the battle, Henry became
Henry VII of England, the first Tudor on the throne.


Shakespeare wrote eight (!) plays about this tumultuous period of
English history, in this seminar we will read four of them (arguably,
the "best" and most important of them). We will examine questions of
kingship and power, and we will discuss to what extend Shakespeare
follows the Tudor Myth of legitimizing Tudor rule.


Texts:

Please get copies of Richard II, Henry IV pt. 1, Henry V and Richard III.
I will be using the most recent editions from the New Cambridge
Shakespeare series and it would help if we were all using the same
editions -- but if you already have other copies (particularly from the
Arden Shakespeare series) you can, of course, use those. It is highly
recommended that you use "good" scholarly editions (like Arden,
Cambridge, Oxford, Norton) that include extensive introductions and
notes.


Requirements:

I expect you to attend regularly and to participate in class discussion.
If you want credit, you will need to write a term paper (c. 15 p.
BA/Lehramt, c. 20 p. MA).


Suggested preparation:

You might consider watching the BBC series "The Hollow Crown", an adaptation of all eight plays. The library has both DVD-boxes.

In the first part of this lecture, we will look at British texts representing colonialism and the colonies from Shakespeare to the 20th century. We will examine how ‘colonial discourse’ shapes its object, reinforcing racist hierarchies, suppression and exploitation. In the second part, we will then look at some texts of the ‘New English Literatures’ that have developed in the former colonies; here, my focus will be on texts from India and the African continent, particularly South Africa. A final session will be dedicated to ‘Black British Literature’. Thus, the lecture will provide an introduction to ‘colonial’ and ‘post-colonial’ literature in English, and it will examine some of  the key concepts of ‘post-colonial studies’.